Australian researchers have retrieved a meteorite believed to be around 4.5 billion years old from a remote lakebed.

It was dug out of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre on New Years Eve, hours before rain would have washed away any trace of it.

Curtin University geologists Phil Bland and Robert Howie used a network of 32 remote cameras to track the meteorite.

The cameras, called the Desert Fireball Network, helped narrow the search area to a 500m line.

The recovery operation in a remote area of the lake took three days and involved an aerial spotter, drone and local Aboriginal guides. The area around the lake has been inundated with rain in early January, with falls over 150mm reported, reportedly.